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SAFETY FOCUS

5-Step Risk Assessment

By Dale Wilson, Field Safety Specialist

The world is a dangerous place to live and work despite advances

in science, engineering, and medicine. New risks associated with
materials, processes, and products must be properly anticipated,
recognized, evaluated, and controlled. The Loram 5-Step is a
method we use to proactively anticipate, recognize, evaluate and
control daily hazards. The 5-Step Standard establishes clear expec-
tations and requirements for all employees, regardless of occupa-
tion or position to establish a known baseline when the use of the
5-Step process is appropriate. This Standard’s goal is to establish
known and accepted guidelines, reduce confusion, and ultimately
to make hazard analysis and risk reduction the standard operating
practice within LORAM. The LORAM 5-Step is a hazard analysis
tool, and like all tools is only as good as its utilization. The 5-Step
is designed to assist employees in understanding hazards, placing
controls on the hazards identified, and ensuring that an employee
is able to
work with as little possibility of encountering
harm from the hazards identified as possible.

Risk assessment is a term used to describe the
overall process or method to identify hazards and
risk factors that can potentially cause harm. A risk
assessment is a thorough look at your workplace
and task to identify things, situations, and process-
es that may cause harm to you or your co-
workers. After identification, you analyze and
evaluate the risk’s likelihood and severity. After
this determination, you can decide what measures
should be in place to effectively eliminate or con-
trol the harm from occurring.

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Page 3 MAY 2023